Health impact assessment in the island of Ireland

Urban Farm DB summary

This chapter considers the development of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on the island of Ireland over a 10-year period. While not a statutory requirement, HIA has received some support from national and local government as a decision-support tool to enhance healthy public policy. New public health frameworks in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2012 have the potential to embed HIA more systematically. The Institute of Public Health in Ireland has played a key role in building capacity for HIA and supporting its practice, with a case study examining how HIA was used to add a health and health inequalities lens to a cross-border community garden development program.